Wasser 2015

Rolf Ohst created this painting, Wasser, dimensions 150 x 200 cm, with what looks like thin layers of oil paint, building up a misty, lush jungle scene. The technique here reminds me of an airbrush, creating these beautiful graduations of light and shadow, where depth and distance are created with a kind of soft-focus effect. Look at the moss on that tree branch, the way the painter teases out the texture with tiny strokes of green, contrasting it against the slick, almost photographic rendering of the parrots in flight. There's a push and pull between the real and the hyperreal, a quality that speaks to how we construct our own perceptions of nature and wilderness. Ohst's painting makes me think of Neo Rauch. Both artists share a love of realism, but they imbue their canvases with a slightly surreal air, blurring the line between observation and imagination, inviting us to contemplate the ever-shifting nature of reality itself.